This disclosure relates to a seal or weatherstrip arrangement for a motor vehicle.
Seals, also referred to as weatherstrips, are useful for providing a sealing arrangement between a moveable panel of a vehicle, e.g., a door, a roof panel, a trunk lid, a hood, and the vehicle frame. The seal acts to prevent the ingress of elements, e.g. rain, from entering into the interior cabin of the vehicle.
FIG. 1 depicts a cross section of a seal arrangement for a motor vehicle. In FIG. 1, a seal 10 is affixed to a vehicle frame 12 and is located between a first panel 16 and a second panel 18. In this seal arrangement, the first panel 16 is a moving panel that can move in the direction of arrow 22. The moving panel 16 is shown in the closed position. The second panel 18 depicted in FIG. 1 is fixed to the vehicle frame 12, i.e., the second panel is not moveable with respect to the vehicle frame. The seal 10 is disposed between the moveable panel 16 and the fixed panel 18 to close a gap 24 between the panels 16 and 18 to seal the vehicle cabin from the outside elements.
In FIG. 1, the seal 10 only partially fills the volume of the gap 24 and leaves the adjacent edges 26, 28 of the panels 16 and 18 exposed. Because of the exposed edges 26, 28 and that the gap 24 includes voids adjacent each panel edge, turbulence is created as air flows over these voids. This turbulence can result in high noise levels inside the vehicle cabin.
Encapsulation of the panels 16, 18, particularly where the panels 16, 18 are made of glass, can substantially reduce the void between each respective panel edge 26, 28 and the seal 10 by eliminating the void between the panels 16, 18. Encapsulation tooling, however, is very expensive.